Johnson Family Reunion at Zion National Park

What a blast our weekend at Zion was! We had almost the entire extended family on my dad's side there. We had family from California, Vegas, Utah, Texas, Ohio, Florida, Virginia, and Pennsylvania. It was so nice to hang out with aunts, uncles, cousins, brothers, sisters-in-law, my sister, parents, and my grandma, who is the matriarch of our family. She's amazing. I'm so glad she could come and be with everyone! We had a grand time--especially the kids. We arrived on Thursday afternoon and went to a fun little mexican cafe in Springdale, just outside of the park.

If you ever go to Zion you must know that you cannot drive into the park anymore (years ago you actually could, but it was so hard to find a spot to park, congestion was awful and there were so many people) so you have to take a shuttle. I think these are great! It is so easy to hop on a shuttle and get on and off when you need to instead of fighting traffic and tons of people. The park is so peaceful and quiet and so beautiful. It has really made a huge difference in the way the park feels. You actually feel like you are enjoying the views and being outside than in a popular tourist attraction. So, since we were staying at the Zion Lodge inside the park, we had received these red parking permits that actually allowed us to drive inside the park. The trick was that we could go no farther than the Lodge or you would be in huge trouble. This would normally be fine, but with 40-some people in our group and the picnic area a 1/2 mile up the road it was not an option to just haul all the camp stoves, coolers, boxes of food, etc., up there on the shuttle or on foot. So, we were able to talk them into letting us have a handicap permit to drive up there (thanks to having a 90-yr old grandmother in our group--actually, she just turned 89, but my aunt thought it sounded better that she be 90 and it worked!). They didn't want to give us one just because we had tons of food and prep stuff to haul up there. Anyway, it worked out and we were allowed to drive the truck up to The Grotto, as it was called, to take all the stuff to fix our meals. It was fun cooking out every day with the fam. We stayed in cabins that were 4 rooms hooked together (each had their own bathroom).

In the evening the kids enjoyed playing Go Fish inside the cabin.

Claire (my cousin's daughter), Kate, and Megan posing for me at the lodge. It was so spectacular to stay in this setting!The dear came right into the lodge area to eat. The kids thought this was super cool (so did the grown-ups!).This is Carli hauling around a long tree branch she found. I just thought this was hilarious! It's so much bigger than she is. :)

My brother, Spencer, Kate, Missy (his wife), and Megan.
Carli had fun making William (my cousin, Beth's baby) smile. They were cute together.Kate and Megan were so excited when Aunt Missy got there! She is so sweet to them.Ok, I've spent a long time trying to get this post up so I'm going to sign off now, but I've got more Zion pictures coming!